Mark Bauer

Mark Bauer is the author of two coffee table books, Romantic Dorset and Perfect Wiltshire and co-author (with Ross Hoddinott) of two photography technique books, The Landscape Photography Workshop and The Art of Landscape Photography.
Mark has worked full-time as a professional photographer since 2003 and is considered to be one of the UK’s leading landscape photographers, supplying images to stock agencies, corporate clients and magazines. Mark has won numerous awards in major photographic competitions and in 2011, he was a category winner in the Outdoor
Photographer of the Year competition. Well known for his articles and books on photography technique he also leads photographic workshops in the UK with Dawn 2 Dusk Photography.

Chesil Beach (also known as Chesil Bank) stretches for 17 miles from Portland to West Bay. The beach is a shingle ridge which connects the Isle of Portland to the mainland. The stones are naturally graded, getting smaller in size the further west you head, and it is said that locals can tell their location by the size of the stones.

Sturminster Newton – the ‘capital of the Blackmore Vale’ – is a sleepy town which holds a market on Mondays. This used to have one of the largest cattle markets in England but it closed in 1998. The larger part of the town, Sturminster, lies to the north of the River Stour with Newton, the smaller part, to the south.

Just escaping the clutches of the south coast conurbation, Wimborne Minster is an attractive market town, dominated by the twin towers of the Norman Minster church. Its history dates back to the 8th century and it is recorded in the Domesday Book as a small market town. The current population is around 15 thousand.

Corfe Castle was built by William the Conqueror to defend the only gap in the Purbeck Hills for eleven miles. This imposing structure must have struck terror into the hearts of any attacking army. The castle finally fell during the English Civil War when a group of Parliamentarians entered with their coats worn inside-out so that they resembled Royalists. Once inside, they turned their coats the correct way and there began a simultaneous attack from outside and within. This event is supposedly the origin of the phrase ‘turncoat’. Later that year, Parliament voted to demolish the castle, resulting in its ruined appearance today.